HEAT keeps Soldiers cool under pressure  Humvee rollover trainer teaches Soldiers how to survive when vehicles overturn                                       Mike A. Glasch       Leader Staff

Pvt. Travis Estes knows first hand what it feels like to be in a vehicle when it flips over.   “I was driving my own car and going too fast on a dirt road, goofing around with some friends and I just rolled it,” he recalled. “It happens a lot faster than you expect it to.” So when the light-wheel vehicle mechanic student from Company A, 187th Ordnance Battalion climbed into the Humvee Egress Assistance Trainer (HEAT), he thought he knew what he was in for. The HEAT teaches Soldiers the proper procedures to exit from an inverted Humvee much like the Dilbert Dunker used by aviators. The device is made from the body of a Humvee and put on a platform with an axle allowing it to rotate to simulate a vehicle rollover. Soldiers are strapped in, tilted 30 degrees in one direction, and then 30 degrees the other direction to give them the feeling of what the vehicle feels like when it is at its critical rollover point, letting the driver know at what point evasive measures need to be taken to keep the vehicle upright. But not all rollovers can be prevented. So the HEAT is then turned upside down, leaving the Soldiers inside hanging from their seat belts. They must then unfasten themselves and work together to get a door open and exit to safety as quickly as possible. “It’s realistic training,” said Sgt. 1st Class Leonard Warren, chief HEAT instructor, 187th Ord. Bn. “When the HEAT rolls over, the five Soldiers inside are going to feel everything as if they were in a real Humvee that had flipped.” The HEAT was first developed in 2005. According to the U.S. Army Combat Readiness/Safety Center, since its inception, the number of Humvee accidents in Iraq has decreased every year. “It’s definitely working,” Warren said. “We’ve had Soldiers and Sailors who have gone through the training here e-mail us back from Iraq saying their vehicle had overturned, but because of this training they were able to survive.” Putting that training to use is not limited to the battlefield. “I tell the Soldiers when they come through the training, the same procedures you are doing on this type of vehicle you can use in your POV (privately owned vehicle),” Warren said. “If you rollover you respond the same way.” Whether on the streets of Baghdad, or some Carolina dirt road, Estes knows the next time he has a vehicle flip on him. He will be ready. “This lets you slow it down so you get a good idea on what you are suppose to do. It helps knowing what you are supposed to do, like to have your hands up so when you unbuckle you don’t land on your head,” he said. “It gets chaotic in there trying to remember all the steps. I’m more confident now that I can handle a rollover.”